Women's Lacrosse

Bentley Hosts New Haven to Open NE-10 Playoffs Wednesday

Taylor Bastien

May 01, 2012

WALTHAM, Mass. – Coming off one of the best regular seasons in program history, the Bentley women's lacrosse team will host New Haven in the quarterfinals of the Northeast-10 playoffs on Wednesday night at 7:00 p.m.

Bentley, which is ranked ninth in this week's IWLCA Division II poll, is the fourth-seed after going 9-3 in the NE-10 this season and 12-5 overall. That win total is second most in school history, only to the 2000 team, which posted a 13-3 mark.

New Haven (13-4, 8-4 NE-10) is ranked seventh this week by the IWLCA and enters the postseason as the fifth-seed.

Both squads lost to the same three conference foes in the regular season; Adelphi, Le Moyne and Stonehill, but it was Bentley's 13-11 win over the Chargers on April 7 that has this game being played in Waltham. In that contest, a goal by sophomore Jackie Brown (Brookfield, Conn./Brookfield) with 4:38 remaining broke a 9-all tie and started a 4-0 run that put them up 13-9 with 2:08 remaining. Junior Cori Geiger (Agawam, Mass./Agawam) had the next two goals and senior Megan Wiggins (Acton, Mass./Acton-Boxborough) netted the last one.

Sophomore Carolyn Kynoch (Ashland, Mass./Ashland) also had a strong game for Bentley that day with four goals, four draw controls and three caused turnovers. Senior Alexis Gabbe had four goals and four assists for the Chargers.

The rematch should be another battle between two strong defensive teams. Bentley enters the postseason fifth in the NE-10 in goals allowed per game (11.15). In the 12 games they won, the Falcons held the opposition to 10 goals or fewer nine times. They allowed 11 goals in two other games. The Chargers are second in goals allowed (7.73) after holding the opposition to 10 goals or fewer in all but three of their 17 games.

That's not to say either team doesn't boast offensive talent. Though Bentley doesn't have a player in the top-10 in points in the NE-10, they have three with 56+ and six with 29+. Geiger leads the way with 62 points (t-11th in NE-10), followed by Taylor Bastien (North Kingstown, R.I./North Kingstown) with 57 (39 assists, 3rd in NE-10) and Wiggins (56 points).

The Chargers boast the league's second and third ranked scorers in Gabbe (91 points) and senior Ashley Ferrandiz (87 points). Senior attack Sarah Magnone is tied for fifth in the conference in goals (54). She and Gabbe (51 goals) were two of the NE-10's nine 50+ goal scorers during the regular season.

In the other quarterfinal on Wednesday, third-seeded Stonehill hosts sixth-seeded Merrimack. The winners of the two games will advance to the semifinals on Saturday, which are being hosted by Le Moyne. The Bentley/New Haven winner gets top-seeded Le Moyne, and the Stonehill/Merrimack winner gets second-seeded Adelphi. The championship game is set for Sunday at Le Moyne as well.